With the event out of the way, here, we’ll take a look at what the leaks and rumors got right and wrong (or maybe not), and why.
What the Leaks Got Right About Apple’s California Streaming Event
iPhone 13
We knew pretty much everything about iPhone 13 heading into the event. Jon Prosser (who’s 74.3 percent accurate, according to AppleTrack), Ming-Chi Kuo (who’s 76.6 percent accurate, according to AppleTrack), Mark Gurman (who’s 88.8 percent accurate, according to AppleTrack), and other leakers all got the main details right.
Before the event, we knew the iPhone 13 would be called iPhone 13, after some debate about the name being iPhone 12S. We also knew the display was getting a substantial upgrade with 120Hz ProMotion and a 20 percent smaller notch. Prosser even released the CAD design files to show all of this!
Gurman reported we’d see the new Cinematic mode. And across the board, everyone agreed that the new iPhone 13 models would bring significant camera upgrades. And, of course, we all expected bigger batteries and a new A15 processor.
iPad mini
The iPad mini was a bit of a surprise at the California Streaming event. Most leakers hadn’t ruled it out for appearing in September, but assumed it was more likely to appear at the second event later in the fall. Gurman doubled down on this in his email newsletter before the event.
So while everyone was a little muddled on the dates, we knew almost exactly what to expect. Just like iPhone 13, Prosser leaked the entire design of the iPad mini. And as we’ve now seen, he was absolutely right.
Gurman corroborated the new design, calling it the “biggest redesign” to the device “in years”. Kuo also confirmed the slightly larger display size, which is exactly what Apple delivered.
There wasn’t much information about the internal specs of the new iPad mini, but a 9to5Mac exclusive got the details of a new USB-C port, and the A15 processor spot on.
What the Leaks Got Wrong About Apple’s California Streaming Event
iPhone 13
While most of the leaked iPhone 13 details were correct, there were a couple of details that didn’t get announced at Apple’s event.
Namely, the was lots of speculation on the inclusion of LEO satellite communication tech, so you could make emergency calls with no service. Kuo was first to report this, and other leakers seemed to agree. Many leakers also believed we’d see a new astrophotography mode, but Apple didn’t announce this.
Apple Watch Series 7
Before we dig in to what went wrong, there were notably a few things that leakers got right. Gurman explained the devices would ship later, and we saw images of bigger bands for the larger sizes. But that’s pretty much it.
Prosser and RendersByIan leaked the new design for the Apple Watch Series 7, showing flat edges and a flatter screen. Pretty much every other leaker backed this up, including Gurman and Kuo. It was also pretty much agreed the Watch would have bumped up internals–notably a more powerful S7 processor.
But we got none of that. Rather, we got an Apple Watch with more rounded corners, which is even further away from flat edges. Steve Troughton-Smith, a security researcher, even found the Series 7 models are using the same S6 processor as the Series 6 devices.
There’s lots of speculation about what happened to the leaked Apple Watch Series 7 design and processor. Some believe the designs were falsely put out by Apple to reveal sources. Others believe the design was scrapped last minute due to production issues. But the truth is somewhere in the middle.
It’s more likely that the Series 7 design was for a future Apple Watch. Prosser did explain, when he first leaked the design, that it could be for Series 8. It’s entirely possible for the design to have been leaked a year early, as we’ve seen with Prosser’s recent leak of next year’s iPhone 14.
So, it appears the design leak wasn’t wrong, just early. But what about the processor? Apple probably scrapped the new S7 chip last minute and used the previous year’s one, rather than scrapping the whole design.
With watch faces already designed to take advantage of the extra curved screen real-estate, displays manufactured, and the event filmed weeks in advance, it’s highly unlikely the entire design was scrapped.
AirPods (Third Generation)
Finally, we come to AirPods (Third Generation). This new iteration to the AirPods line was first rumored for the Spring Loaded event back in April. Since then, we’ve just been waiting for Apple to release the new earphones, and it looks like we’ll need to keep waiting.
52Audio leaked the third generation AirPods design at the start of the year, and Prosser than confirmed the design was legitimate. We then hadn’t heard much about when AirPods (Third Generation) would be released, until Kuo said that they’d be coming at the California Streaming event.
Besides Kuo’s leak, most people just assumed we’d see the new AirPods in September, rather than any leaks suggesting this. So, it looks like we’ve got a minor loss for the third generation AirPods; the design still seems correct, we were just expecting them too early. Again.
Were the Leaks Wrong or Just Early?
It’s worth considering whether the leaks that didn’t come to fruition weren’t wrong, but just in fact early.
With some of the products leaked for the California Streaming event still on the cards for a future release later this year or next year, the leaks may very well have just been a bit early.
